4 Inch Steel
by FantazyFanatic217
Summary: Noble Six in her training year, Six suffers abuse from another spartan, Carter's PISSED. This is her story and how a 4 inch steel blade saved her life.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 this is Angel

_Original name: Andrea Carson_

_Nickname: Angel_

_Spartan II program_

_Date of birth: May 25__th__ 2530_

_Age: 14_

_Home planet: Earth (New York City)_

_Current location: Reach_

_Family information: Access denied_

_Training: Continued as directed_

_Spartan augmentation procedure: Pending_

_Expected graduation date: 2548_

_Commanding A.I. : Serenity_

_Commanding officer: Deceased_

_Additional information: Access denied_

_Temporary replacement officer: Carter A-259_

_Additional information: Access denied_

_Current date: June 14__th__ 2544_

_Comments from today's training: Sloppy, bad timing, poor reaction time, only lasted 2 round with one of our ODST's, not to mention she broke her hand in training._

"Dr. Halsey I thought the SPARTAN II program was finished." Carter said. He was 24 at the time, temporarily taken out of service to fill in for a recently deceased commanding officer. "We re-instated the program because of a high demand for SPARTANS." Halsey explained. "This program is a little different from this last. Now, the trainee's are kids without families. Orphans, deserted children, ones willing to start over again." In other words children that won't be missed.

Trainees lined up outside, single file to meet their new commanding officer. "Listen up recruits, I heard about Sergeant Allen, and his little 'accident'. We're short on hand enough as it is, we don't need you killing off your commanding officers too." "But Ma'am, we didn't…" Alex protested. "Enough, Alex." Halsey snapped. "Temporarily this is your new officer. Commander Carter." Quickly scanning the rows of recruits. More women than men, some taller than others. But he noticed that there was one empty spot in the back row of Beta Company. "Your one short."

"Dismissed."

"Halsey didn't you hear me, your one short." "That would be Angel." "She's with our medic, she had a training accident." And by accident she meant she failed her combat test for the day. "I'd be better if you meet her in person. She's uh… 'special'" and by 'special' she meant she's a bitch and a half. Joy.

(_Skipping pointless walking scene to the medic_)

"Could you at least try to stick with your training lesson this time?" Serenity continued to nag. "I'm just saying that bastard had it coming." Andrea groaned. "Language!" The medic warned, bandaging her hand up. "Sorry! Geez!"

"All the other recruits passed their test today; you're the only one that failed." Serenity said. "That technique wasn't working for me, I was improvising!" Andrea snapped. "Look where that got you." Serenity smirked. "Smart ass." "LANGUAGE!"

That didn't sound good. "See what I mean?" "Damn." "Yeah, good luck." "Wait!"

Son of a bitch, now he was stuck with 75 bratty teenagers.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 Training

Andrea stuffed her hands in her pockets walking back to the barracks. "Hey worst training fail ever." That would be Dominic from Alpha Company. Alpha company was ahead of Beta Company, they had already received their SPARTAN augmentations. And he thinks he's all bad ass because of it.

Her only remark was to raise the middle finger. "Such obscene finger gestures from such a pristine girl." "1995 called, they want their movie line back." Andrea smirked. "Damn Angel, it's not my fault you screwed up." Dominic said defensively. "Don't call me that! It's Andrea!" "Whatever Angel." "Damn, you're impossible."

Screw bed rest, she was headed to the gym, determined to get this technique right.

(Again, skipping pointless walking scene to the gym)

"What do you think you're doing?" Serenity snapped from the pedestal she was now standing on, by the punching bag. "Practicing, what does it look like?" Andrea said calmly not bothering to look up. "Andrea you just broke you hand! The last thing you need is to be beating the shit out of a punching bag." "I just need to fix this one move or else it's gonna bug me all day. What's the work that can happen anyway?" "You broke you hand in three places! A lot can happen!" "Yeah yeah yeah, whatever." "Brat."

Andrea wasn't one for giving up easily. So she had a broken hand, big deal. Who cares?

Another attempt on this move. Hands balled in to fists ready to strike, she dodged left, then right. This was the part where she had trouble. Andrea went for a high kick on the punching bag, but she lost her balance where she was suppose to step back down and fell flat on her ass.

"Dammit! Why can't I get this stupid move?"

"Need help there?" Yeah… that would be Carter. "Oh eh… sorry sir I know I…" Then she realized he wasn't her regular drill sergeant. "Uh… Did I miss something or… something?"

"I'm Carter, the replacement Commander for now." He held out his hand to help her up. Her regular drill sergeant would probably yell at her to get her lazy ass up and go run a 10 laps or something. "It's Angel, right?"

"Andrea, Angel's just a nickname." She answered politely. Normally she's snap but yelling at your commanding officer over a dumb nick name was severely frowned upon.

He helped her to her feet. She noticed he was young for a Commander, he was only what 24?

"What are you doing down here? The rest of your Company is at the targeting range." Carter asked. "Well… I'm supposed to be on bed rest after I broke my hand." "Yeah, I heard about that." "But I can't figure out this move. And it's just gonna bug me until I figure it out."

"Which move?" Half surprised by his response she answered. "Uh it's the one where you dodge twice then go for a high kick. But I keep losing my balance when you come back down."

"That move was a bastard when I was in training, I always hated it." Finally! Someone who under stands! "What you're doing is putting all your weight on you left side so you fall when you kick, but what you really need to is follow through and put your weight on your right side." He explained before demonstrating. "Try now." "Ok… I guess."

Andrea took a solid stance once again, dodging left then right before bringing her right foot up for a high kick, this time not stopping at the first contact of the punching bag, but following through. She shifted her weight onto her right side landing on her right foot. This faced her away from her target, but also set her up for another attack. She didn't lose he balance that time.

"Hey you got it that time." "Thanks for helping me out." "Why don't you head back down to the targeting range with the rest of your Company?" "Yes sir."

Good thing she figured it out, she need it for tomorrow. Tomorrow Beta Company would be against Alpha Company, kind of a test to see if they could take down a larger opponent. Andrea headed out of the gym with satisfaction.

"Good thing you helped her out, she'd be here all day if you didn't." Serenity said. "She's stubborn and hard headed when it comes to combat training. Kinda like you." "Oh really?" "I read your file don't think I don't know." Great. Just great. An A.I with an attitude.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 The spark

"Where were you all day? I thought you'd be down here with the rest of us." Alex said. "I was at the gym." Andrea answered. "Still trying to figure out that one move? You had a pretty bad hit yesterday." John said. "No I figured it out, Carter helped me." "The new commander?" "Yeah."

First of all, Alex was one of Andrea's closest friends along with Katrina. They were both in Beta Company

And second, John was like Andrea's big brother, he knew her better than anyone. And he treated her like a little sister too. He always looked after her. But he was in Alpha Company.

"Good thing you figured it out, you'll need it for tomorrow." John said. "Tell me about it. But he even offered to help me for the training I missed while I was with the medic." She added aiming down her sights on the gun, taking aim at a target like it wasn't a big deal. Alex and Katrina looked at her like she was absolutely crazy. "You were out with Carter and you didn't tell us?"

"Ok… First of all we weren't out, and second he was helping me with _training_! Dumbass!" Andrea snapped. "So what's he like?" "Oh my god, what do you care your 14! He's like 10 years older then you!" "Uh have you seen him lately?"

"I know right!" Now Katrina was getting into it. "I wonder if he's…" "MOVING ON!" Andrea quickly cut in.

(_The next day_)

Andrea strapped on her wrist guard to her arm, protecting her broken hand. "Feeling pretty good about today's test?" Katrina asked swinging her legs off the top bunk, landing on the floor. "Yeah, as long as I don't get paired up with Dominic or John again." "I know right." "Why not John?"

"Are you kidding the guys like my big brother, fighting him? It'd just be weird."

"And a word of advice, try not to show off." Andrea smirked. "Whatever. You should be worried about not failing _again_." Alex pointed out. "Oh I don't need to worry about that."

(Fighting ring)

"You will each face an opponent from Alpha Company; treat it like your facing a real enemy. You fail the test; you take it again until you get it right." Carter ordered. "Anyone willing to go first?"

Katrina and Alex kinda hid behind Andrea in the back row. No one else was willing to step up. Just dead silence. 75 talkative teens and you could hear a pin drop at that moment. Tying her hair back in to a pony tail Andrea stepped up. "I will!"

"Andrea! Are you crazy?" Alex said under her breath. The half a 2 seconds Carter stalled, he was thinking _Damn! Broken hand and she still wants to fight! _

Then again she was built to be a SPARTAN. "Fine, you'll face Dominic." _**SON OF A BITCH!**_ She was just screaming in her head. "Yeah Karma's a bitch aint it Andrea?" Katrina smirked. And now Dominic's friends were getting into it. And the two Companies' were starting their own little commentary on this.

Alpha Company: "Kick her ass!" "Come on man! Got the balls to do it or not?"

Beta Company: "She's screwed." "So screwed." "She's gonna fucking die."

"Nice knowing you Angel!" Katrina called. "How about a little support back there? And it's ANDREA!"

Can't screw up now. Dr. Halsey is watching.

Dominic and Andrea took position in the ring. What was immediately noticed was the height difference. He's 6' 8" and she's just barely 5' 10". He was a fucking giant compared to Andrea. There was no way in hell she'd stand a chance. But height didn't matter right now; the bigger they are the harder they fall.

_Ding! Ding! Round Start!_

Dominic took his first move immediately, punching and aiming for the face. Andrea quickly dodged remembering what Carter taught her. She stayed light on her feet, and waited for an opening. She quickly noticed that most of his punched were off balance. She took advantage of this.

At the next punch, she dodged down left, and finally made her first move. She brought her left foot up for a high kick, hitting him on the right side of his throat, immediately weakening his stance. She shifted her weight, coming down hard on the same foot. She faced away from him but it also set her up for another move. Just barely glancing over her left shoulder to get her bearings straight, she jabbed in dead center chest with her elbow pretty hard.

That alone knocked the wind right out of him, Dominic feel back on to the matt. He was down. A textbook take down, perfectly executed

Her time? 1 minute 38 seconds, her new record time. Alpha and Beta Company completely shocked that she took him down so quickly. Even Carter and Dr. Halsey didn't expect a time like that.

"Well?" Andrea finally broke the silence. "You pass. Definitely."

Anger tore through Dominic, the fact that he only last about a minute and a half in the ring with some girl from _Beta Company_. An unarmed, and un augmented SPARTAN took him down that quickly. His patients for that brat snapped instantly. He's make her pay for embarrassing him in front of the entire Company like that.

_Training comments: Faster reaction time, well executed moves, textbook takedown. Still room for improvement but definitely getting better._


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 Snapped

So the rest of Beta Company took their test with flying colors (surprisingly), only 2 failed. Some went better than others. Some had their ass kicked. But a lot went to the medic with injury. So today's training was firearms training. Paintball in other words. They'd treat it like they were actually on the battle field. And once again it was Alpha against Beta.

Carter would be watching over from a distance. Each Company's main sergeant would be accompanying them. This would be taking place in the woods around the camp.

Sergeant Johnson, Andrea and a few other trainees knelt behind a busted up log for cover. "Their kicking our asses out there!" Katrina said. "No shit Sherlock!" Alex snapped wiping red paint off her face. "I already got hit in the face with a paintball."

"Come on, man up!" Andrea snickered. "I'M A GIRL!" "Barely." Katrina agreed.

"LADIES!" The 3 girls quickly snapped to attention. Knowing their Sergeant, he would probably make them run 10 laps for that, most likely more.

"Andrea, cut around the perimeter, and flank them." Johnson ordered. "I'm on it." Who else is better to send on this job than Andrea? She knew this place like the back of her hand, she went hiking through here with her squad every day.

Andrea quickly split away from the group, rounding there perimeter of the battle. She moved fast but carefully. She _thought_ she was completely out of sight. She _thought _the other team didn't suspect a thing. One did though.

When she rounded the edge of a large tree… _**THWACK!**_ The butt end of a paintball gun hit her upside the face. She feel back, hitting hard against a pile of fallen and broken tree branches. She looked up to see who or what hit her (ignoring the concussion she probably has now).

This got more serious at this point. Potentially deadly now. She froze in place, gasping in surprise. And she was pretty sure her heart skipped a beat right then and there. Why?

She was now staring down the barrel of M6G Magnum. Andrea looked up past the gun. Who? Dominic. How the hell did he get a gun? Firearms were supposed to be locked in the Armory; _no_ _one_ was suppose to go in the vault unless they were told too, especially after their last commander was killed off in the 'accident'.

Andrea couldn't believe this. "What the hell!" (Probably not the best thing to say to the person with a gun pointed at your head, just for the record.) "You little bitch; you embarrassed me in front of the whole company!" That's what this was about?

"I…" Andrea opened her mouth to protest but, Dominic aimed downward firing a live round into her shoulder.

Her scream died in her throat as he pinned her down by her neck. "Scream and I kill you." Andrea silenced herself, even though her brain was screaming at her not to but her voice wouldn't cooperate. More to the point, he had the gun here and she didn't.

"You're taking orders from _me _now." He couldn't be serious. "What makes you think I'll…?" Her protest silenced when he pressed down on her throat, starting to choke her. She clawed violently at his arm. "I'm not being beat by a bratty girl from Beta Company, am I clear?" Andrea managed what she could of a nod. He released her, she gasped for air. "Tell anyone, one little outburst. And I'll kill you, John, _and _your little buddy Carter." He was dead serious about this. If he was crazy enough to break into the armory, then he was sure as hell crazy enough to do this.

(Back with the rest of the Companies)

Both sides took a lot of fire; everyone was covered in red and blue paint. "Good work today, both sides." And once again he noticed that they were one short. "Sarge where's Andrea?" Johnson didn't even get a chance to answer that question. When Andrea came limping out of the woods tightly gripping her shoulder. Most probably thought she got hit in the shoulder with a few paintballs and she took a bad fall.

But that wasn't red paint seeping between her fingers. "What happened?" Andrea remained silent, she couldn't tell them, for John and Carter's sake.

"This was supposed to be a paintball game! Who the hell is firing live rounds!" Carter snapped, now clearly pissed. No one was willing to step forward. When no one answered he turned to Andrea once again.

"Who did this?"

She could tell Dominic was glaring at her. "I dunno. I didn't see anything." She lied. The sad part about this was that he actually believed her. "Katrina, Sarge get her over to the medic, Sergeant Derek (Alpha Company's sergeant) tell Dr. Halsey what happened."

_Training report: Shut down until further notice…_


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 No answers

"What did she do now?" Mariana (Medic) groaned. "I know what you're thinking but this time it actually wasn't her fault." Katrina quickly said before Mariana got the wrong idea. At the first sight of Andrea's bloody shoulder, she knew she had been shot. "I didn't know you had targeting practice today."

"We didn't, someone was firing live rounds in a paintball game." Johnson said. "Dammit, do you know who did it?" Mariana asked examining the wound. "No one would step up." Johnson answered. "Could you blame them? Carter seemed pretty pissed." Katrina said. Mariana gave Katrina the usual glare for cursing but she didn't say anything.

Andrea remained silent for once. Usually she's going off about how it wasn't her fault or who started the fight. But this wasn't the case.

"Well it doesn't look like you have any muscle or nerve damage, just a flesh wound. All you need is stitches and painkillers. Same thing you always end up with." Mariana said with a slight smile. Andrea didn't answer that. That's when Mariana noticed something else. An open gash on her head, just above her eye brow about 2 inches long. "And just how did that happen?"

_Tell her! Dominic did this to you! You don't deserve this! Especially from that bastard!_ Her words didn't match her thoughts. "I uh… fell."

Mariana just sighed. "What am I going to do with you? Always falling, always getting into fights." Surprisingly Andrea still didn't say anything to that either. Something was wrong, gravely wrong."

(Meanwhile)

"Huh, training ended early." Serenity said. "Serenity, I need you to run an inventory check on firearms." Carter said flatly. "Did something happen?" Serenity asked. "Someone was firing live rounds in training today and one of our trainee's was hit." "Who was hit?" "Andrea."

"Well do you know who did it?" Serenity said. "No idea. Andrea didn't see who fired the round and no one would fess up to it." Carter explained.

"Where's Halsey?" "In her lab."

(Back with Andrea and friends)

"Ok, now things are getting serious." Katrina said flopping back onto her bed. "No, things got serious when Commander Allen was killed!" Alex corrected. "It was an accident." Katrina defended. "He was shot dead center, right between the eyes! How the hell is that an accident?" Andrea said.

"Miss fire? Faulty safety on a gun? Ricocheting bullet?" Katrina said. "Kat there were 75 people out there at the targeting range, anyone of them could've turned and popped a round in his head." Andrea pointed out. "Or it was a _miss fire!_" Katrina wasn't hearing any of this. "Then explain what happened at training today!"

"Again, _miss fire._" Katrina said. "With a paintball gun? No one was at the targeting range; no one was supposed to have a real fire arm." Alex snapped.

"Why are you yelling at me? Ask Ms. Badass over there, she was the one who was hit! If anyone knows what happened it was her!" Katrina shouted back. The rest of the girls in their squad were in a frenzy just arguing. The stress was tearing them apart at the seams.

"_**SHUT UP!**_" Andrea yelled.

Complete dead silence.

"Arguing won't help anything here!" "Then tell us what happened!" "I told you nothing happened!" Andrea snapped. "If you don't want to believe me fine! I don't care!"

Without another word she turned and left. Everyone was shocked. Andrea was never one to back down from an argument no matter what it was about.

_**Author's note: Sorry for not updating in a while, kinda been busy with school and projects and shit. So just go with it for now. More chapters on the way! :)**_


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 Crime and Investigation

Carter refused to let this go. He was absolutely determined to figure out who did this. But it didn't make sense. There was no video with a good enough view of the woods. There was no record of a gun being taken from the armory recently. Company sergeants refused to say anything, claiming they were nowhere near the scene. So you could guess he was just a bit edgy.

(Beta Company)

Since training was shut down until further notice, everyone was basically lying around on their asses all day. You could feel the tension and paranoia as Serenity took her spot on the electronic pedestal in the girl's barracks. "Alright I need to know what's going on and I need to know now!" The A.I. snapped. Katrina and Alex were the only ones there; everyone else was either at the showers or in the gym.

"What Carter's not telling you anything?" Katrina said. "No, he's edgy lately. Normally I wouldn't come to a trainee with a problem like this but sadly you see more on training grounds than command does." Serenity said. "You didn't see anything did you?"

"Nope, we're just as stumped as you are. Johnson sent Andrea to scout the edge of the woods and when she came back there was a bullet in her shoulder. No one saw anything." Alex explained. "Wait a minute… Serenity did Marianna find the bullet in Andrea's shoulder?" Katrina asked. "No, there was an exit wound… I see where you're getting at. If they didn't find the shell casing then it has to be in the woods somewhere."

Alex sat up from her laid down position on the bed. "Do you think it would help if we found it?" She said. "Can't hurt, if we find the casing we can figure out what model gun it was. And it's one less headache that Carter has to deal with." Serenity said. "It'd be best if he went with you."

(Alpha Company)

John was just coming back from taking a shower. Once again since training and the fire arms range was shut down of his company was either at the gym or hiking. "John!" He almost jumped out of his skin. It wasn't just because Serenity picked that moment to sneak up on him; it was also because he was wearing nothing but a towel. Sure she wasn't actually a real person, buts it's still pretty weird. "Serenity!"

"Problem?" She said in an innocent tone. "Yeah there's a problem!" "Don't be a baby. Man up." She smirked. "Getting serious here. Katrina, Alex, and Carter are headed back out into the woods."

"It's about the incident with Andrea isn't it?" He said. "Yes, but I need your help here, I think it might be someone from Alpha Company. Can you just poke around; see if anyone's acting weird or if you hear any rumors?" Serenity said. "Serenity there's 39 people in Alpha Company there's no way I can get to everyone." John sighed. "Please understand the problem here. Alpha Company already got there SPARTAN upgrades and Beta Company hasn't yet. This guy can easily kill Andrea." Serenity pleaded. "I'll do what I can. Might not be much, but I'll try." John said.

"Thank you. And for the love of god put some clothes on!"

(Elsewhere)

Andrea needed to let out some steam. Just taking a walk around camp to clear her head. But she also had to think things through. Like what the hell she should do. Who should she tell? And what Dominic would do if she- _**THWACK!**_

_Author's note: Uh oh! Cliff hanger moment :O_


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 Steel blade

"Ow!" _Dammit not again!_ Was this how they were going to meet everytime? At least she wasn't hit over the head with a gun this time. But getting bitch slapped didn't exactly feel great either. Before she could react her attacker shoved her against the wall. "What did you tell them?"

"I didn't say anything!" She staggered, eyes thick with fear. "Don't lie to me bitch! What did you tell them?" He hissed pressing against her throat. "If it did you wouldn't be here right now!" Andrea choked out. And with that respond he let go of her neck but she was still trapped between him and the wall.

"Good, you wouldn't want another accident would you?" Dominic growled, tugging at the hem of her shorts. She flinched at the sudden action and squeezed her eyes shut. "Don't!" He pressed his hand against her mouth before she could say anything else. "Hmm, pathetic." He released her before walking off.

Once he was gone, she slid down the walk and cried. It was bad enough before but now the twisted bastard was threatening far worse.

(Beta Company)

"You sure this was the way she was going?" Carter asked. "Definitely." Katrina said. "This is the edge of the woods here." Vegetation crunched beneath their feet. "Wait!" Carter stopped suddenly causing Alex (who wasn't paying attention) to slam into Katrina.

"What? What's going on?" Alex stuttered. "Right here. Someone's been here." Carter said. There was a visible. Outline in the vegetation where it had been crushed down. "So that means that the shell casing should be around here."

Alex spotted something out of the corner of her eye. "Is that blood?" She said kneeling down at the edge of the impression. Blood was spattered in the dirt and on the grass. "She wasn't standing when she was hit." She said. "Whoever attacked her got her on the ground first and clearly didn't want to kill her."

"Then the casing should be in the dirt…. Right about here." Katrina pointed to a hole in the dirt about 2 centimeters in diameter. She dug her fingers into the dirt. "And here's the shell casing." She said handing the bullet over to Carter. Dried blood and dirt was caked onto the casing. "Looks like an M6G Magnum round. Son of a bitch…" Carter groaned. "What?"

"Recruits are required to sign out weapons when training, Sergeants and Commanders aren't." Carter said. "So one of the sergeants could've done this?" Alex said.

"I'll have Serenity run through the sign out logs. But for now I have to talk to Andrea."

(Beta Company)

Firearm and Combat training was postponed until further notice. With no training most recruits headed to the gym. Andrea however was an outcast. She could be found in the girl's barracks, alone. Serenity would check on her every now and again but other than that, she wouldn't talk to anyone. She couldn't bring herself to talk to John.

Andrea sat on her bed writing in her journal. She didn't write anything about Dominic or the incident, she knew the other girls didn't exactly have any respect for privacy. The last thing she need was someone sticking their business where it didn't belong.

"Andrea?" "Sir?" Andrea quickly closed up her journal and set it aside.

"Doing any better since the accident?" Carter said sitting next to her on the bed. "Yeah kinda, shoulder still hurts a little." She answered.

"Listen… if there's anything about the accident you're not telling me, now's the time to say it." Carter said. Here was her one chance to tell him everything. Just blurt it all out and get it over with. Dominic wouldn't know, she wouldn't have to deal with him anymore. Once again her thoughts didn't match her words. "No… nothing…" She said quietly. Fear outweighed courage.

Sighing, Carter reached into his pocket. "Here, take this." A 4 inch steel pocket knife, the edge sharpened to perfection. "Just carry it with you. Just in case you need to use it."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 Uncovered

Andrea examined the steel blade after Carter left. She could use the blade, but not in a way Carter wanted her to use it. It was meant for self _defense_ not self _harm_.

_MEANWHILE….._

"Serenity, please tell me you have something to go on. I want this bastard hunted down." Carter said, anger clearly showing in his voice. "I'm sorry sir, but the search turned up nothing. The gun must've been checked out by a sergeant." Serenity sighed. "We sprayed everything down with luminal but we couldn't even find any blood."

"Dammit…" "How's Andrea holding up?" "The kids a fucking train wreck."

(A week later)

Training resumed as directed a week later. Most recruits had forgotten about the incident by then. Things were quiet for once. But the incident still bothered a few people. It was something they didn't wanted to let go. It made them uneasy that this bastard was still running around.

Andrea grew more and more distant from her friends. Uneasy about something. She wouldn't talk to anyone. She seemed depressed all the time. She was clearly losing sleep, showing up to training late and clearly tired. Other days she'd show up with her eyes red and watery, showing that she had been crying. But when questioned about it she'd deny everything.

More importantly she was coming in with more recent injuries. Cuts, bruises, bone fractures, a concussion, most of the time she could cover them up with her uniform. As for the pain, she just used the pain killers that were prescribed to her for her shoulder. The injuries Andrea couldn't cover up, she easily for excuses for. "Oh I just fell." Or "I just scrapped it out hiking." Her excuses were wearing thin.

The abuse led to other problems as well. Yes Andrea used the pain killers for her hand to cover up other injuries. But soon, she found herself becoming addicted to them. She was popping pain killers like they were candy. She'd take them even if she wasn't hurting. She'd come to the medic asking for a refill more frequently. She would become anxious, violent even if she was denied them. But if she wasn't given the pain medication, she wouldn't be able to make it through training. The pain from the fractures would be too much. It eventually got to the point where Mariana was refilling her prescription with sugar pills.

Andrea was caught in a tight spot. She felt trapped. Every day was an uphill battle. She kept mentally screaming at herself to tell someone about Dominic her actions never matched her thoughts.

_Training…_

Johnson watched over Beta Company's training today. Carter was with Dr. Halsey evaluating Alpha Company on firearms training. Beta Company was still in hand to hand combat.

"Andrea, and… Alex. You'll go first." Andrea swallowed hard. Not only did she have to fight first today but she had to fight against one of her best friends. And on top of that, her pain medication wasn't working.

She reluctantly entered the ring. Alex noticed she definitely looked out of it. "Hey, Andrea? You alright there?" Alex said. "I'm fine; I just didn't get a lot of sleep that's all." Andrea said, taking a fighting stance. There was no way that this was going to end well.

_Round start._

Andrea swung the first punch. Alex ducked under her swing and went straight for Andrea's exposed side. She wrapped her arms around her midsection and threw her weight into Andrea, knocking her off her feet. As soon as Andrea hit the ground, she screamed bloody murder.

Alex immediately pushed herself off of Andrea. She didn't think that she hurt her friend, she didn't mean to. And it was a move that wasn't meant to seriously hurt someone.

Andrea tightly clutched her side. Johnson was beside her in seconds. "What happened?" Narrowing her eyes, Alex rolled up Andrea's shirt enough to look at what the problem was. This, she didn't expect to find.

A bruise about the size of her hand on Andrea's right side. The bruise was bluish purple as if it was newly placed. Alex knew she wasn't the cause of it. She carefully pressed two fingers over the bruise, applying slight pressure. Andrea winced in pain as she felt a sickening pop. "Her ribs are broken. At least 2 of them, probably more than that." Alex said. "Let's get her to the infirmary." Johnson said.

"No! I'm fine!" Andrea insisted. "You have two broken ribs, you're anything but fine." Alex said, carefully standing her friend up. "Come on."

_Later…_

Alex sat Andrea down on the examination table. "What can I help you with?" Mariana asked standing up from her desk. "We need you to take a look at her; it looks like she has two broken ribs." Johnson answered. Mariana turned her attention to Andrea.

"Well first I should probably get an x-ray so I know what we're dealing with. So if I could just have you take of your shirt so we can…" "No!" "Honey, it's just a simple x-ray." "Don't touch me!" She tried to get off the examination table.

She completely flew off the deep end. Kicking and screaming with Johnson and Alex trying to hold her down. Mariana rummaged through the cabinets until she found a syringe and a medicine vial filled with a clear liquid. "Hold her down!" Johnson pinned the trainee down by her shoulders. Her violent struggle continued as Mariana slid the syringe into her arm and injected its contents.

It only took a few seconds for the sedative to take effect. Her vision began to cloud, her eyelids growing heavy. She felt herself growing weak. Her eyes rolled back in her head as she went limp. Johnson and Alex released their hold on her only when they were one hundred percent sure that she was out.

"What the hell was that all about?!" Johnson said. "I have no idea!" Alex said. "She's never acted like this before." Mariana would have to do the X-ray with Andrea sedated.

The medic cut off Andrea's shirt, shocked by what she saw. She only expected slight bruising over her rib cage because of her broken ribs. Dozens of bruises littered her torso. Most of them looked fairly new, only a select few looked old. There was absolutely no way that all of them were accidents.

"Get Carter in here, now."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9 can't lie anymore

A closer examination of Andrea led to them finding more bruises, fractures even broken bones. No wonder Andrea was asking for more medication. She was falling apart at the seams.

All of her injuries led Mariana to one thing, abuse. She felt sick to her stomach, it was hard to believe that someone would do this to her. Even harder to know that Andrea wouldn't tell them about it, she just dealt with it. She was being abused right under their noses and they never knew a thing. Yes Andrea seemed a bit… distant at times, but they assumed it was just anxiety or she was still in shock of what happened earlier.

Nobody ever expected this.

"Katrina, Alex, does Andrea keep a journal? A diary?" Mariana asked. "She does." Katrina answered. "Look through it, see if there's anything that might tell us who did this." The medic ordered. Without another word the 2 cadets bolted off.

Mariana returned her attention to Andrea's x-rays. They revealed 3 broken ribs on her right side, another 2 fractured on her left side, a broken collar bone, and a fractured wrist. It was unbelievable how she could keep all this quiet for so long, it must've hurt like heel both physically and mentally.

Carter stepped into the examination room. "You wanted to see me?" He said. "Yes, you've been saying Andrea's been distant lately?" Mariana asked.

"Yes." "Quiet? Tired? Kind of isolated?" "Yes."

"Here's why." Mariana turned to Andrea on the examination table, who was still under heavy anesthetic.

"I just wanted to do an X-ray of her chest because I thought she may have had a fractured rib from combat training. When I asked her to take off her shirt she lost it and started fighting. I had to sedate her."

He ran his eyes over her viable injuries. This was no accident, it was abuse. "The X-rays show 3 broken ribs, another 2 fractured, a broken collar bone and a fractured wrist." Mariana explained.

"I can't believe this…" Carter said. "And nobody ever knew this was happening?"

"I don't doubt that somebody knows this is happening, either they're in on it or they're afraid to come forward." The medic sighed.

"I'm not interrupting am I?" Serenity took her usual place on the pedestal next to the monitor that showed Andrea's X-rays. "Of course not Serenity. What is it?"

"I looked over the X-rays and the pictures you took of the bruising and I found something that we can work with." Serenity said. She turned to the monitor as an image of the large bruise over Andrea's broken ribs appeared on screen. "The pattern of the bruising is consistent with the tread on the boots the cadet's wear." She said.

"Can you figure out what size?" "Men's size 10. I even made a list of who wears that size. 75 people now narrowed down to 8."

"Serenity if you were real, I'd kiss you right now."

O0O

Alex lifted up Andrea's mattress find her diary underneath. She flipped through the pages of her diary, finding the last entry which was yesterday.

It read:

_I know I said I'd never write about it but I can't take it anymore. I have to vent. I'm fucking sick of this. I can't go to anyone about this; he's tried to rape me and now he's threatening to kill me. I don't know what else to do. I can't take the depression or pain; I can't handle the constant threats. I've had it. Tomorrow I'm asking for pills to help me sleep from Mariana and I'm taking the whole bottle. You win Dominic… You win…_

Alex felt her blood run ice cold in her veins. "What? What does it say?" Katrina asked seeing Alex's blank expression. "She said she was going to kill herself…" she said. Her stomach dropped, her heart leaped into her throat. Her mouth running dry she asked, "Do you have a name?"

"Dominic."


End file.
